Republican rivals turn on Nikki Haley in fourth primary debate

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Nikki Haley came under immediate attack from her Republican rivals in the party’s primary debate in Alabama on Wednesday, as Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy took turns to criticise her support from Wall Street funding and question her conservative credentials.

DeSantis, facing questions about his faltering campaign, immediately turned his focus on Haley, who has overtaken him in some polls to be second in the race behind frontrunner Donald Trump.

The Florida governor tried to discredit the polls — saying he was “sick” of them — and turn Haley’s momentum among major donors into a negative. Haley has recently received praise from Democrat Jamie Dimon, the JPMorgan Chase chief executive, and Reid Hoffman, the LinkedIn founder and prominent Democratic donor. She also met BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, who led the effort to use environmental, social and governance factors in investment decisions.

“Nikki will cave to those big donors when it counts,” said DeSantis.

“She’s been very weak on China,” he said later. “These Wall Street donors, they make money in China. They’re not going to let her be tough on China.”

Ramaswamy also piled on, attacking Haley for serving on the board of Boeing, and calling her a stooge for corporations and the rich.

Haley said her competitors wished they were attracting the same support — and noted that she left Boeing after the company received a “bailout” from the federal government during the coronavirus pandemic.

“They’re just jealous,” said Haley. “I love all the attention, fellas,” she added later. “Thank you for that.”

Haley, DeSantis and biotech entrepreneur Ramaswamy were joined on the stage by former New Jersey governor Chris Christie — the only four candidates, aside from Trump, to meet the Republican National Committee’s heightened polling and donor thresholds….